Nevertheless, a substantial number were still skippers one year after the data were first
collected. Reasons offered for skipping mainly had to do with personal choice and convenience,
rather than with dieting and concern about body shape. There are two possible explanations for
this inconsistent finding. First, that skippers were more likely to have been on a diet and to be
dissatisfied with their body shape may be a mere coincidence; that is, these might be genuinely
separate issues. A second possibility is that the different reasons offered for skipping breakfast
were a consequence of the different methods of data collection. Many teenagers may not admit
that skipping breakfast is a weight-control strategy when being directly questioned over the
telephone; a more effective technique for obtaining this information may be the use of self-report
questionnaires. It may turn out to be that, for some teenagers, skipping breakfast is merely a matter
of choice and convenience, but for many others, particularly females, it is an expression of
concern about body shape.